


Echo

by Kallonimo



Series: Shakarian Quarantine Project [69]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Past Shepard/Liara T'Soni, no beta we die like jenkins, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25559950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kallonimo/pseuds/Kallonimo
Summary: One year after Shepard died in London, Garrus and Tali find an echo.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: Shakarian Quarantine Project [69]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751218
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Echo

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Category: Random  
> Prompt: I’m telling you, I’m haunted

One year since London. Since she died. Since she left him. 

The last anyone ever heard from Shepard was a decisive “Fuck. I’m going up.” when she was told the Crucible wasn’t firing. The last thing she ever said to him was “I love you. I always will.”

Garrus thinks it’s fitting. It perfectly showcases who she was. The person who will go and get things done. He hates how fitting it is. He wishes she had just been a little less heroic, a little less stubborn. He wishes her love for him had cancelled out her heroism. He knows it’s unfair to think that, especially since no one know what exactly happened up there, but it’s not like she’s here to tell him off. It’s only him and his grief.

Though, that isn’t fair either. His friends have been trying their best and it’s not like they are doing to well either. He can tell Liara tries to suppress her own grief around him. After all she went through exactly the same thing only a few years ago. She lost her lover and she mourned her. And when she came back they had become different people. Liara might be the one who understands him best and that is the exact reason he doesn’t want to talk to her. 

Tali keeps trying to get him to talk, dragging him out of his apartment with the flimsiest of excuses and randomly calling him for “Technical Assistance” when they both know she doesn’t need it. It kind of works. One evening, after one too many beers he does talk.

“I think I’m going mad. Or I’m haunted.”

Tali tilts her head. She has become much better and handling her liquor. “What do you mean?”

“My electronics are doing...weird shit. At first I thought they were malfunctioning but I ran every diagnostic and they seem to be alright.”

“Interesting”, Tali seems more sober immediately. “What weird shit?”

“Flaring up red and blue. Sometimes random letters appear. They didn’t say anything until recently.”

“What did they say?”

Garrus still doesn’t really believe it, but the image is burned into his brain. “I love you. I always will.”

Tali sucks in the air hard, causing her filter to make a rattling noise. “Shepard’s last words.”

“Yeah”, Garrus stares at his omnitool, as if he could make the words reappear by wanting hard enough. “I thought I was hacked at first, but there was only one other person who heard it and I figured you wouldn’t hack me.”

“I didn’t and you weren’t hacked.”, Tali types at her omni tool. “I got one too, only I managed to screenshot it.” She shows him a picture of Quarian script, too grainy for his visor to translate. 

“What does it say?”

“Take care of him for me.”

“Holy shit.”  
“Yeah.”

“Do you think…”, Garrus doesn’t want to hope, he really doesn’t, but this…

But Tali shakes her head. “I don’t think she’s out there. Not really anyway. I think that...did you ever wonder why the Reapers suddenly became friendly?”

Garrus laughs. “Every day.”, he studies Tali “You think it’s her.”

She nods. “I think she became part of the program, somehow. Maybe like when Legio uploaded her to the Geth server, only this time…”

“She can’t come back.”

“Yeah”

Garrus stares at his omni tool. “Do you think she’s...conscious?”

“No, I don’t...there’s no way she can control and posses that amount of processing power and still be herself. I think those messages to us...they’re like an echo.”

“So she’s gone.”

“Yeah”, Tali places a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry Garrus.”

He shrugs. “I know she’s dead, Tali. I made peace with that. I’m not okay with it, but I made peace with it. And I suppose an echo is better than nothing.”

“She loves you”, Tali says quietly “She loves you so much she’s telling you even though she should be gone.”

This is the point where Garrus breaks down, finally. After one year. He just starts sobbing. And the little part of Shepard that was left knows. She knows her very last message got through to him and the little bit of her that can still feel is relieved. Because that is who she is. Not just the person will get it done, but the one who will do it for her loved ones. Who will not die despite her love for Garrus, but for it. Because she wants him to live in the best possible universe. And if she has to sacrifice herself for that, then so be it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
